A Majority Of Dutch People Support A Transition To More Plant-Based Diets

In the Netherlands, one of Europe’s largest meat producers, people are falling out of love with meat. One in five young people would like to give up meat, and half of Dutch people want to eat less. Meanwhile, two-thirds of people support a shift to more plant-based food system, according to a new survey.

The research, commissioned by ProVeg Netherlands, revealed support for a plant-based transition was found across age groups, rural and urban areas, and political viewpoints. It also uncovered not only a willingness to give up meat among the Dutch, but that a quarter of people hope that one day we will completely stop using animals for food.

ProVeg calculated a 30 percent reduction in Dutch meat consumption if all those who said they wanted to eat less meat did so. This would go about a third of the way to meeting the government’s emissions target for animal farming, saving 1.6 megatons of CO2 per year. This would also save 116 million animal lives annually.

Animal welfare a top consideration

People eating — mavoimages – stock.adobe.com The government has set a target for people to get half their protein from plants by 2030

According to the survey the top reasons that people support a plant-based transition are: animal suffering, deforestation and biodiversity loss, and the preservation of marine life. Preventing food shortages, pandemics, and health problem came next, followed lastly by climate change and nitrogen pollution. The latter two issues are behind the Dutch government’s bid to bring down farmed animal numbers in the country.

Although 45 percent of people surveyed are already flexitarian, meat and dairy remain dominant in Dutch diets. Animal sources make up 58 percent of protein consumed, compared to 42 percent from plant sources. The main barrier to more people acting on their desire to eat less meat is taste and believing meat is necessary for health, according to the survey.

But ProVeg notes that since the wish to eat less meat is already there, it would be possible to make the Netherlands more plant-based without having to convince people of the benefits first. Efforts to do this are already underway. The government has a target of making the protein ratio 50/50 from animals and plants by 2030. Meanwhile several Dutch supermarkets are trying to aid this transition by increasing the proportion of plant-based protein they sell.